Behind the Scenes: Championing California's Environment

CLCV will honor Howard Welinsky, a longtime political and social activist, at our Environmental Leadership Awards this week in Los Angeles. Welinsky is a dedicated environmental champion who has been a supporter and partner of CLCV for more than two decades.

He is also a committed activist for higher education, having co-founded the bipartisan California Coalition for Public Higher Education in order to advance California’s future by restoring higher education as a top priority for our state. Welinsky and the coalition believe California must "stop the cycle of budget cuts that have caused skyrocketing tuition, larger class sizes, layoffs and furloughs."

Clearly, California's world-class public colleges and universities provide an educated workforce and help spark the industries, including those dependent on clean energy technology, that make our economy one of the largest and most vibrant in the world. Welinsky believes reversing the cuts and prioritizing higher education will improve California’s competitiveness and all Californians' quality of life.

Welinksy serves on the Board of Governors of the UCLA Foundation and is the Treasurer for Bend the Arc, a Jewish Partnership for Justice that, among other things, pursues immigration reform and voting rights. For 30 years he has been active in the Pro-Israel Community with AIPAC and Democrats for Israel and is the lead co-chair of the Platform Committee of the California Democratic Party.

Howard Welinsky previously served on the Platform Committee of the National Democratic Convention as well as on the California Postsecondary Education Commission and the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Commission on Hate Crimes.

Welinsky is currently a senior vice president with Warner Brothers Pictures; despite his career in the entertainment industry he isn't one to seek out the spotlight for his tremendous work protecting the environment and improving the lives of all Californians. That's why we're delighted to publicly recognize his decades of support for California's environmental leadership at our annual Environmental Leadership Awards in Los Angeles on December 4th.

2016 California Environmental Scorecard

New for the 2016 legislative session: The 43rd annual California Environmental Scorecard rates elected officials on 2016, another successful year for the environment in spite of heavy opposition from polluting industry.